The earlier articles contain information that will not be repeated here, as well as concepts that will be referenced but not re-explained. In general, it is safe to assume that any praise or criticism found in the 10.1 article that is not either reinforced or contradicted in this article continues to be true of 10.2.

G4/800: A QuickSilver Power Mac G4 800MHz, with 768MB RAM, a GeForce 4 MX video card with 64MB of VRAM in a 4x AGP slot, a 40GB 7,200 RPM HD on the motherboard's ATA/66 bus, a CD-RW drive, and a Sony E540 21-inch flat screen CRT.

What's in a Name?

The official product name for this release is "Mac OS X Version 10.2 Jaguar." The previous releases also had "big cat" code names. Version 10.0's somewhat inappropriate code name was "Cheetah." Version 10.1 was "Puma." But these code names never spread very far outside of Apple. Developers and technically-minded Mac enthusiasts were aware of them, but that's about it.

Apple has a history of using internal code names as product names. "Macintosh" and "Newton" were project code names that were never replaced with "real" product names. In the case of Mac OS X 10.2, the code name has simply been appended to the version number. Nevertheless, Apple is pushing the name "Jaguar" into the public consciousness.

The box has Jaguar fur on the side. A furry "X" logo has replaced the translucent blue aqua-themed "X" logo from earlier versions. The comparison is striking:

Mac OS X boxes: old vs. new

The campaign has been such a success that "Jaguar" is the most commonly used name for Mac OS X 10.2 among enthusiasts and casual users alike. What brought about this branding decision? I have no inside information, but I do have a few theories...

First, the optimistic take. Historically, code names have been chosen without much regard for how well they work as product names. This allows code names to be strange and exotic. Examples from inside Apple include "Brazil", "Spock", "Nimitz", "Reno", "Serrano", and even the infamous "Carl Sagan"--later litigated into "BHA" (Butt Head Astronomer) and then finally LAW ("Lawyers are Wimps").

Interesting and even offensive code names are a kind of high-tech team-building tool; geeks like this kind of thing. And it is an even more powerful reward to allow the developers to keep their code name, something they usually acquire a significant affection for, even as the project goes into production. This is a classically "Apple" move: rewarding the strange, creative geeks who are down in the trenches doing the real work.

Now for a more cynical angle. The Apple of today has clamped down on previously widespread and similarly morale-building diversions such as software easter eggs, and has even disallowed the use of individual developers' names in applications' credits dialog boxes. Apple software is now created by the whole of "Apple", not by individual developers. (This practice also supposedly keeps outside companies from poaching Apple talent--a dubious means to that end, in my opinion.)

Would this kind of corporation allow a code name to become a product name simply because it makes developers happy? In this environment, it seems more likely that not only the plan to keep the code name as part of the product name, but also the initial selection of the code name itself took place much higher in Apple's chain of command.

Finally, perhaps most realistically, it is likely that Apple learned something from the introduction of Mac OS X 10.1. Despite very significant improvements to the product, a Mac OS X 10.1 retail box looked nearly identical to a 10.0 retail box. The difference between "10.0" and "10.1" printed in very small type is not something that's easy to spot at a distance. Similarly, Apple's Mac OS X 10.1 web site and other marketing materials did not look very different than they did when 10.0 was introduced. You've seen one giant aqua-themed "X" logo, you've seen them all.

And while the product name "Mac OS X" had good brand recognition, not all of the connotations were good. The 10.1 release addressed the biggest problem area of 10.0: performance. But improved performance is not as easy to sell as a collection of whizzy new features. "Mac OS X 10.1 - now with fewer instances of horrendous performance" is not a particularly compelling slogan. In short, Apple did not do a good job of articulating the benefits of 10.1 to the public.

Combine the 10.1 experience with the recent pressure from Microsoft to speed up the adoption rate of Mac OS X and you get a catchy, fur-themed 10.2 release that's hard to miss. Jaguar is branding at its most basic--a completely manufactured association between two totally unrelated things. This is a well-known device for improving recall in all situations (e.g. a waiter taking orders without writing them down), not just in marketing. Regardless of which of the possible motivations listed above contributed to Jaguar's branding (if any), I think it was a very wise decision. Furthermore, offbeat maneuvers like this are part of what keeps people interested in Apple and what makes it fun to be an Apple fan.

Allow me a few final notes on branding. Jaguar furthers the spread of the typeface that is slowly replacing the custom Garamond variant that Apple has been using since the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Samples of the new and old fonts are shown below.

Apple fonts: old vs. new

If any of the font gurus out there know exactly what the new typeface it is, or if it's another custom font variant made just for Apple, please let me know. [Update: survey says...it's a variation of Adobe's Myriad typeface.]

Of course, a company like Apple that is so strongly associated with a vegan CEO would never think of using real animal fur in its advertising. Steve Jobs had his other company render computer-generated fur for all of Jaguar's marketing materials. Even the fur-themed desktop background that ships with Jaguar is named "Faux Fur" to ensure that there's no politically incorrect misunderstanding. So while some things may change at Apple, it's nice to see that other things remain the same.

Finally, as a surprisingly large number of Mac users probably already know, Jaguar--a code name that became a product name--already has a nickname: "Jag-wire." You'll also see it spelled "Jagwyre", both with and without the hyphen. The spelling varies because the source of the nickname is speech, not text. Steve Jobs pronounces the word "Jaguar" so that it sounds like "Jag-wire." Apparently this is a regional California accent, not a personal quirk. Then again, he also pronounces "automatic" as if the first syllable sounds like the word "owe", so who knows what's really going on. Speaking as an easterner, "Jag-wire" sounds pretty strange to me. Apparently other Mac users agree, and "Jagwire" has caught on as an oddball, fashionable, and possibly even "133+" nickname for Mac OS X 10.2. What a world.

John Siracusa / John Siracusa has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Boston University. He has been a Mac user since 1984, a Unix geek since 1993, and is a professional web developer and freelance technology writer.